[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Permit me to
offer one or two suggestions of a remedial kind with regard to the grievances mentioned in your article on " The Workmen on Church-Going." The first grievance stated by you is (and it is a great one) that the poor are ticketed' in church. The best remedy I conceive for this would be a return to the forsaken Church principle of allotment of seats to parishioners. Where this has been tried, it has met with greater success than hoped for. At present our town churches are, for the- most part, Congregational meeting-houses, not pariah churches.
The second grievance must, I think, be met, as you say, by- showing in life and doctrine the influence of Christianity on society. But still this must be subordinate to the truth that men have souls as well as bellies,—that there is a social state hereafter, as well as here. It is greatly to be regretted that we hear- nowadays more of the bearing of Christianity on the Church- than on humanity.
A third workman's grievance, which I do not see noticed in your- article, is, that great part of the Church services are unintelligible to the unlearned. They cannot follow chanted psalms, unusual hymn tunes, and hard words and sentences in sermons. The- remedy in these two last cases clearly is, simplicity.
Caste and caste feeling are undoubtedly the root of the estrange- ment of the working classes from the Church. Let the rich be- taught to mix more with the poor on friendly terms, not as superior and inferior, and they will learn to respect them better. Trusting the importance of the subject will excuse my intruding on your attention, I am, &c., F. W. FOWLER. Bathwick, Bath, Jan. 29th, 1867.
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